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Day 14 of Noirvember: Pushover (1954)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 14, 2017
Novak and MacMurray steam up the screen in Pushover. Some may call Pushover a “poor man’s Double Indemnity” – and the label is understandable. Like Double Indemnity, Pushover stars Fred MacMurray as a respected professional man who is pulled into a web of deception and murder at the urging of read more
Day 13 of Noirvember: The Dark Page
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 13, 2017
One of my most treasured movie-related books is The Dark Page, by Kevin Johnson. (And not just because its name is so similar to my film noir newsletter!) It’s an absolutely beautiful coffee table book that consists of full color pictures of novels on which film noir features were based, along with read more
Day 12 of Noirvember: Remembering William Holden
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 12, 2017
Strikingly handsome with a versatile acting talent, William Holden could play everything from the charming boy next door to a psychologically damaged killer, with equal facility. During a career that spanned six decades, Holden earned three Academy Award nominations (and one win); appeared in numero read more
Day 10 of Noirvember: Noir Femmes in Confidential Magazine
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 11, 2017
Of all my many (many!) collections, one of my favorites is my vintage magazine collection. And among the publications I’ve collected are several volumes of Confidential magazine. Confidential, which premiered in December 1952, was a notorious scandal magazine that touted the tagline, “Tells the read more
Day 11 of Noirvember: Cry Danger (1951)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 11, 2017
These three. In this film, Dick Powell stars as Rocky Mulloy (how’s that for a noirish name?) who, at the start of the action, has just being released from prison after serving five years of a life sentence for a murder/robbery that he did not commit. He’s got just one thing on his mind – securing read more
Day Nine of Noirvember: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 9, 2017
Set in post-WWII London, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands stars Burt Lancaster as Bill Saunders, a luckless drifter whose existence continues to spiral downward when he accidentally kills a bartender in a local pub. After seeking sanctuary in the apartment of a young woman, Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine), read more
Day Eight of Noirvember: List o’ the Week — Top 10 Favorite Noir Monikers
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 8, 2017
Waldo Lydecker. In yesterday’s Noirvember post, I mentioned a character in The Big Knife whose name has always stuck with me – not just because it was so unusual, but also because it was so contrary to his slimy personality. The memorable name of Smiley Coy gave me the idea for today’s List ‘o read more
Day Seven of Noirvember: The Big Knife (1955)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 7, 2017
Not your typical noir, The Big Knife focuses on screen star Charlie Castle (Jack Palance), who’s in the center of a maelstrom – his dictator-like studio head, Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger), is pressuring him into signing another seven-year contract; his beloved, estranged wife, Marion (Ida Lupino), read more
Day Six of Noirvember: Noir of the Year(s)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 6, 2017
Today’s Noirvember post looks at my favorite noirs through the years. My original plan was to pick one favorite for each year of the classic noir era. And it was fun at first – until I got to 1944, and I realized that this little exercise wouldn’t be as easy as I’d envisioned. It was so hard read more
Day Five of Noirvember: Fred MacMurray — Amiable Villain
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 5, 2017
I remember, many years ago, a friend of mine saw Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity. She didn’t like his performance – she was unable to get past the idea that the actor she knew only as Steven Douglas on My Three Sons was committing murder and spitting out the word “baby” on a regular basis. read more
Day Four of Noirvember: Oscar Noir
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 4, 2017
Film noir features and Academy Awards don’t exactly go hand in hand, if you know what I mean. There’s never been a film noir Best Picture winner (not even Double Indemnity!! Blasphemy!) and noir performers seldom made that walk down the carpeted aisle to collect the golden statuette. But. That read more
Day Three of Noirvember: List o’ the Week — Top 10 Film Noir Images
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 3, 2017
There’s nothing like the look of film noir. Served up by such masterful cinematographers as John Alton, Nicholas Musuraca, and John F. Seitz, the imagery from the era immediately places you in a world of cynicism, dread, and hopelessness. Today’s Noirvember celebration takes a look at 10 read more
Day Two of Noirvember: Appointment with Danger (1950)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 2, 2017
Watching the beginning of this Alan Ladd starrer for the first time, you wouldn’t think it has much promise. As the camera shows us the inside of a cavernous post office, the narrator extols the virtue of the postal service: “The citizens of this country own it, work in it, and use it. All day, read more
Happy Noirvember! Day One: The Fickle Foot of Fate
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Nov 1, 2017
Happy Noirvember! One of my favorite months of the year is here: Noirvember! What’s Noirvember? It’s a month-long celebration of all things noir, started by Marya over at Cinema-Fanatic.com. This is my fourth year participating, so grab yourself a stiff drink and join me for 30 days of noir. Straigh read more
The 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise — Part IV
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Oct 30, 2017
It’s about that time, ladies and germs – time for another installment in my monthly coverage of the 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise. This time around I’m covering one of the many highlights of the festival for me – seeing Michael Douglas (from third row, center, mind read more
Pre-Code Crazy: Madam Satan (1930)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Oct 9, 2017
You may not know this about me, but I am no horror fan. Oh, I’ve seen the occasional horror movie – Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, and I even recently caught most of Dracula – but for the most part, no thank you. So when I looked over TCM’s pre-Code offerings for the month of October read more
Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge: Here We Go Again!
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Sep 16, 2017
“The world belongs to those who read.” – Rick Holland In keeping with this concept, the world was mine this summer, as I dove into my fifth consecutive year of participating in the Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge, hosted by Raquel of Out of the Past. As part of this annual event, lovers read more
Pre-Code Crazy: Upperworld (1934)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Sep 10, 2017
It takes only a glance at the credits for Upperworld (1934) to know that this is a film worth seeing. It stars the great Mary Astor, a non-dancing and oh-so-adorable Ginger Rogers, and pre-Code icon Warren William. It’s based on a story by Ben Hecht, who also wrote the screenplays for such first-rat read more
The 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise — Part III
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Sep 4, 2017
Now that the dates for the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival have been announced (April 26-29, 2018), I thought this was a perfect time for another installment of the 2017 TCM Film Festival: Revisiting Adventures in Paradise! My first two films of the festival – fittingly – were a film noir read more
Pre-Code Crazy: Ann Harding Day on Summer Under the Stars
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Aug 6, 2017
If you’re a fan of TCM – and really, what classic movie fan isn’t? – then the month of August may just be your favorite month of the year. It’s the month that gives us Summer Under the Stars, where TCM devotes each day’s programming to a single star, airing 24 hours of films featuring the read more